MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

For the lazy people.

#2 Oshkosh
#10 Platteville
#12 Stevens Point
#24 Whitewater

[tomt4525]

http://www.uwoshkoshtitans.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/roster

Oshkosh's roster is up.

[Gregory Sager]

They're sure working Chicagoland's western suburbs hard.

[badgerwarhawk]

Platteville's Robert Duax and Oshkosh's Ben Boots have both been named preseason All Americans

http://d3hoops.com/awards/all-americans/men/preseason-2019

[hindsight2020]

WIAC race should be as interesting as ever this year once again...

From my count, 19/27 all-conference (first team, honorable mention, and all-defensive) players returning:

UWO: 3 (Boots, Flynn, Fravert)
UWW: 4 (Brown, Rongstad x2, Sachs)
UWL: 4 (McCray x2, Manning, Meinholz)
UWP: 4 (Gerds, Voelker, Shields, Duax)
UWSP: 4 (O'Heron, Dodge, Nelson, Tauber)

4 teams ranked in top 25 preseason as we know.

...every night is going to be tough and most likely the champion will have at least 2 losses when it is all said in done. Cheers!

[Greek Tragedy]

WIAC race should be as interesting as ever this year once again...

From my count, 19/27 all-conference (first team, honorable mention, and all-defensive) players returning:

UWO: 3 (Boots, Flynn, Fravert)
UWW: 4 (Brown, Rongstad x2, Sachs)
UWL: 4 (McCray x2, Manning, Meinholz)
UWP: 4 (Gerds, Voelker, Shields, Duax)
UWSP: 4 (O'Heron, Dodge, Nelson, Tauber)

4 teams ranked in top 25 preseason as we know.

...every night is going to be tough and most likely the champion will have at least 2 losses when it is all said in done. Cheers!

Point should also get Ethan Bublitz back this season. A 1st team AC two years ago. He was injured last year.

[John Gleich]

Here are the records of WIAC champions going back to 06-07: (National Championship game appearances with an "*")

Year	Wins	Losses
06-07	15	1
07-08	13	3
08-09	14	2
09-10*	13	3
10-11	14	2
11-12*	13	3
12-13	14	2
13-14*	15	1
14-15*	15	1
Superior Leaves
15-16	10	4
16-17	12	2
17-18*	12	2

Superior made the jump after the 14-15 season. It begs the question... is it better or worse for the conference that Superior left? From a "number of losses" standpoint, it would seem logical that the number of losses should go down, not up (two fewer games, so two fewer opportunities to lose).

But, maybe, on the other hand, removing the (usually) perennial bottom feeder is *worse* for the team at the top, not better. If you go by the argument that a team in the bottom half of the conference is easier to play, then you lose out on two "easier" games (annual trip to the Frozen North notwithstanding).

Or... maybe there are other factors in play.

[Greek Tragedy]

Here's a quick rundown on everyone's non-conference schedule.

STOUT
The Good: Bethany Lutheran, Bethel
The Bad: Finlandia...twice

Opponents' winning % from last year is at just 47.1% and that doesn't include games vs Silver Lake and Cardinal Stritch. Bethel loses two of their top 6, while Bethany Lutheran loses three of their top guys.

Eau Claire
The Good: St. Olaf, Bethel, St. Scholastica, SNC
The Bad: Superior, Mt. Aloysius

Opponents' winning % is at 56.8%. The four "good" opponents have solid records, but St. Scholastica comes from the UMAC and SNC could be down from last year, when they finished 3rd in the MWC.

Whitewater
The Good: St. John's, Monmouth, Loras, Sul Ross St.
The Bad: Beloit

The Warhawks must have screwed up their NC schedule somehow because their opponents' winning % is at 58.8%. Monmouth won the MWC but loses three guys. Loras could be real good this year and Sul Ross St. is again favored to win their division in the ASC.

La Crosse
The Good: St. John's, Bethel
The Bad: St. Mary's (MN), Luther

56.5% OWP. Luther and St. Mary's had a combined 6-44 record last year. Their end of year tournament could pit them against Marietta (21-7) or Elmhurst (13-12)

River Falls
The Good: St. Scholastica, possibly SNC
The Bad: Superior, possibly Alma

Only 51.9% OWP. The wildcard could be the game against Johnson & Wales (CO), they're coming from D2. Their record wasn't very good, but they have two studs on their team. I also didn't include the Viterbo's record.

Oshkosh
The Good: Possibly Wheaton, SNC
The Bad: North Park, Finlandia

Only 46.2% OWP. Pretty ho hum here. If they play Coe, Oshkosh will have played 7 nc opponents with losing records.

Stevens Point
The Good: St. Olaf, Augustanta, Hope, IWU
The Bad: Superior


59.3% OWP. As usual, Point has a solid nc schedule. A trip to California to play Cal. Lutheran and IWU should be good.

Platteville
The Good: St. John's, Wheaton, Hope, JHU, possibly Wash U.
The Bad: Alma,

Platteville has the highest OWP at 60.9%, that includes a possible matchup with Wash U. Disappointing that Platteville is going to Vegas and playing...Edgewood?

[tomt4525]

I would consider games for UWRF and UWSP against perennial power St Thomas in the good category.  They are certainly better than some teams you have included there anyways.

[Gregory Sager]

I would consider games for UWRF and UWSP against perennial power St Thomas in the good category.  They are certainly better than some teams you have included there anyways.

I think that you're a year or so behind the curve on that "perennial power" distinction. Not that the Tommies won't be respectable, but they're well off of that dozen-straight-MIAC-titles pace now. They were 14-12, 12-8 last season, and with St. John's and St. Olaf both preseason Top 25 teams and Bethel looking to challenge both, St. Thomas is probably going to be one of those "next tier down" type teams.

[hindsight2020]

I would consider games for UWRF and UWSP against perennial power St Thomas in the good category.  They are certainly better than some teams you have included there anyways.

I think that you're a year or so behind the curve on that "perennial power" distinction. Not that the Tommies won't be respectable, but they're well off of that dozen-straight-MIAC-titles pace now. They were 14-12, 12-8 last season, and with St. John's and St. Olaf both preseason Top 25 teams and Bethel looking to challenge both, St. Thomas is probably going to be one of those "next tier down" type teams.

I agree with you, but at the same time we have to respect the fact that St. Thomas has won 2 of the last 8 national championships. Ultimately, I think what we can all agree on is that St. Thomas has a good program even though they may have been 'down' from their standard last season and possibly going forward into this season.

[Gregory Sager]

Oh, I'm certainly not disputing his assertion that St. Thomas should've been listed as a good opponent for UWRF and UWSP. I'm simply saying that the Tommies are not really a perennial power anymore. The dictionary definition of perennial is "lasting for an indefinitely long time; enduring," and 2017-18 proved that the St. Thomas run as a power program neither lasted nor endured.

Take it from somebody who's learned this the hard way -- college basketball is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately affair. Two national championships in the last eight years is a great thing to brag about as a fan, and an even better commodity to put in your back pocket when you're a coach on the recruiting trail, but if that's not translating into landing the personnel that'll keep you contending for more of those hunks of walnut and bronze, then it doesn't carry over. Your current status is what your record is, or was last season, not what it was in the past.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Oh, I'm certainly not disputing his assertion that St. Thomas should've been listed as a good opponent for UWRF and UWSP. I'm simply saying that the Tommies are not really a perennial power anymore. The dictionary definition of perennial is "lasting for an indefinitely long time; enduring," and 2017-18 proved that the St. Thomas run as a power program neither lasted nor endured.

Take it from somebody who's learned this the hard way -- college basketball is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately affair. Two national championships in the last eight years is a great thing to brag about as a fan, and an even better commodity to put in your back pocket when you're a coach on the recruiting trail, but if that's not translating into landing the personnel that'll keep you contending for more of those hunks of walnut and bronze, then it doesn't carry over. Your current status is what your record is, or was last season, not what it was in the past.

They had a lot of injuries last year and a pretty good recruiting class coming in - not sure I'd write them off just yet as a power.

[Greek Tragedy]

Yes, I could've easily used St. Thomas in the "good" part. It's not to say I had to replace St. Scholastica with them. It's not a knock on St. Thomas. It was a quick look at the nc schedules. I used St. Scholastica because they had a better year LAST YEAR than the Tommies. We know the UMAC isn't as good as the MIAC, and St. Thomas hammered St. Scholastica last year as well. No big deal.

[tomt4525]

https://uwrfsports.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

UWRF's roster is posted, a lot of new names.